Cross-Training or Mileage?

I woke up on Saturday all ready to take advantage of the weekend by going for a run, but nope. It was really coming down and forecasted to snow all day. To be fair, I guess I could have run – my mom did. But she came home looking like this

So I don’t feel too bad about my decision to stay indoors (in the warmth) and do a tough 35 minute lower-body Fitnessblender workout. 🙂

On Sunday, it was thankfully back in the 40’s (how sad is it that I’m relatively happy about 40’s on March 29th?!), and sunny. Our club had its monthly brunch run, so my mom and I got in a nice, hilly 5 miles at a pretty good clip (9:04/mile). There was a big turn-out and all the friendly conversation made the miles fly by.

In other news… My mom and I also started discussing the possibility of another half marathon this weekend! Pretty soon we will have crossed off all the nearby New England states, but we still have one that isn’t too far of a drive away – Rhode Island. The half marathon that we’re considering is the first weekend in May, so that would give us just about 4 weeks to train for it. Not a lot of time, by any means, but we have been running pretty consistently, so we wouldn’t be starting from scratch. Would it be a PR race? Probably not, but it would be an easy way to check off another state.

I have some questions/doubts though. I found a 4-week plan that looks like it would work, although I would have to juggle it around quite a bit, as there’s no feasible way for me to get any runs in Tuesday-Thursday (and I’m not saying that because I’m afraid of working out in the morning, but I’m already getting up at 5:30, and any earlier just seems insane.) The plan that I’m looking at calls for moderate cross-training one day a week (45-60 minutes). I’m wondering if it would make more sense for me to get my mileage in on the 4 days that I have, or if I would be better off keeping one day of cross-training in the plan? Any advice on this dilemma would be much appreciated!

Tonight I have my 4th yoga class, and I’m still loving it! The relaxed vibe of the class has been perfect for me as a beginner, and the instructor is so friendly and welcoming. When my mom and I leave, we’re always quite relaxed, so it’s been a wonderful way to start each week.

I hope you had a great weekend! What do you think – is it better to keep one day of full cross-training or should I use the opportunity to get in the mileage?

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4 thoughts on “Cross-Training or Mileage?”

Go for it! I would try to protect my running body with adding a day of cross training in, but you know your body better. Do what feels good 🙂 Good luck! I just decided to sign up for another half this weekend and I’m itching to start back at upping mileage.

I try to keep cross-training on my schedule no matter what! I think it’s really important. With that said, you could even do a short run on your cross-training day. Maybe just run 3 miles and then cross train for 45 min or so? That could be a good compromise if you don’t want to give up the extra run day 🙂